Steam & Excursion > ACs to Portland?

Anyone know for sure if SP ran cab-forwards into Portland? 

Yes, there were cab-forwards in Portland.  On page 48 of Ed Austin and Tom Dill's book "The Southern Pacific in Oregon" cab-forward 4202 was photographed in Portland July 2, 1937.
 

Great, thanks LTC!

kurtarmbruster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyone know for sure if SP ran cab-forwards into
> Portland? 

Yes, and I am embarrassed that I cannot find this video, but I found a video of a cab forward stopped under the Holgate overpass over the Brooklyn Yard.  There were five or six cars stopped on the overpass and people out looking over the railing at the loco.  All of a sudden they started running as it started spitting out steam and cleaning it's boilers.  It was funny to see the whole overpass disappear in steam although probably not funny for the people running for their cars.  

I'll try to find it again.

JOHN

By the time the vapor cloud reaches
the bridge, its as cold as rainwater..
“Expansion is a cooling process”.

Just another cloud in the sky!

W.

Posted from iPhone

Wes,

I know you are right but it was still a humorous video as the onlookers didn't know that and it is a fact that for a brief time the overpass literally disappeared.  By the way I've tried to find the vieo but, so far, have failed.

JOHN
wcamp1472 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> By the time the vapor cloud reaches
> the bridge, its as cold as rainwater..
> “Expansion is a cooling process”.
>
> Just another cloud in the sky!
>
> W.
>
> Posted from iPhone

We had the same thing at Pepper Street on the East end of West Colton, usually thanks to a U28B
with a little fire to light things up!!

Out

callum_out Wrote:
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> We had the same thing at Pepper Street on the East
> end of West Colton, usually thanks to a U28B
> with a little fire to light things up!!
>
> Out

Then you get the "GE Measles" all over you and your cloths.

An AC12 leaving Bloomington and headed up the hill would barely outsmoke a U25B and was a very distant
second when it came to stack flame.

Out

Based on the earlier comments in this thread it sounds like it was a rare enough occurance that it was noteworthy.  From what I have read the big power in the Willamette Valley was the 4-10-2's and SP wasn't big on allowing power that wasn't assigned to a division to operate on that division.  But you can never say never.  Could the run in 1937 have been a test run to see if there were any issues of running the big AC's up to Portland?  
 

A listing published in the Spring 1998 issue of SP Trainline, publication of SPH&TS; shows as of March 31, 1949
the Portland Division had two 2-8-8-2's and twenty-four 4-8-8-2's assigned to the division---all cab-forwards.
Just guessing but I'd say it's safe to say some of them ventured to the Rose City in their comings and goings
if not actually assigned there on a daily basis.

Charlie 

I remember reading some articles in the SP Trainline about the AM-2's running to Portland before the war, about 1939 or so.

cewherry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A listing published in the Spring 1998 issue
> of SP Trainline, publication of SPH&TS; shows as
> of March 31, 1949
> the Portland Division had two 2-8-8-2's and
> twenty-four 4-8-8-2's assigned to the
> division---all cab-forwards.
> Just guessing but I'd say it's safe to say some of
> them ventured to the Rose City in their comings
> and goings
> if not actually assigned there on a daily basis.
>
> Charlie 

All this discussion makes me wonder if the SP made a lot of engine changes at Oakridge.  I could see the possibility that ACs did not often make it east of this point.  Could it be?

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

On the SP Oregon Division, which is very similar to the earlier Portland Division, the power swaps were at Eugene where SP had a very large facility. Oakridge was for adding or removing Helper locomotives, Cascade Summit was also designed for removing and turning helpers. I would certainly agree with any photos to determine if the larger locomotives were able or needed to travel into Portland or Brooklyn yard. Not my ' era  'though.

+ interesting list of Cab Forward photos:

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/steam24.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/23 13:07 by TCnR.

If they were regular visitors, you'd think there would be photos in peoples' collections taken at the Steel Bridge wye.  

They would look very impressive on that curve, with the cab hanging out over the ballast.  

Food for thought, 

Ted in OR

Steel bridge has a really tight curve, it's possible they would have only been on freight and swapped in Brooklyn yard before the bridge. They didn't run-through steam engines like is done now and most likely re-blocked anything going further north, but I don't have any info on that. Most likely they stayed SP west of Eugene since that's where the heavy grades are, but again just speculation. Very curious what the answer is / was.

But the proof is in a photo.

Thanks for the information, all; I can certainly see 'em running to Brooklyn, and maybe into town on, say, troop trains. But would the cabs have cleared the sheds at Portland Union Station? 

Good points about only running to Brooklyn Yard, not all the way through to Portland Union Station.  

Ted in OR